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Starters James Skelton and Jared Biard are done for the season, but CSU football coach Jim McElwain said he hopes to get the other three starters who were hurt during Saturday’s win over UNLV back for this week’s game at Boise State.

Speaking at his weekly news conference Monday, McElwain said he would list linebackers Shaquil Barrett and Aaron Davis and receiver Thomas Coffman as “probable” this week and that he also hoped to get linebacker Davis Burl, injured a week earlier, back, as well.

Fourteen Colorado State University players already have missed starts because of injuries this season and that number will grow to 16 with the loss of Skelton, a linebacker, and Biard, right tackle, when the Rams (3-7, 2-4 Mountain West Conference) meet the Broncos (8-2, 5-1) on Saturday in Boise, Idaho.

Biard, a junior, suffered a leg injury on the Rams’ second offensive series that teammate Joe Caprioglio said wasn’t as serious as the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that kept Biard out all last season.

“He’s disappointed, obviously,” said Caprioglio, the starting left tackle who went through rehab with Biard after tearing the ACL in his left knee early last season. “He’s got another year, though, and it’s not as serious as last time, which is a good thing. I know he’s going to keep fighting.”

Skelton, a senior and the Rams’ starting middle linebacker, broke his ankle midway through the second quarter, becoming the first of three starting CSU linebackers who had to be helped off the field with injuries during the 33-11 victory.

Skelton, McElwain said, has been one of the team’s leaders since the new coaching staff arrived in December and has meant a lot to the coach and the program. He even got a chance to play running back for a play and ran for a 5-yard touchdown in an Oct. 27 win over Hawaii because, the coach said, he knew how important the game was to Skelton.

“You hate to see it; it’s just not fair,” McElwain said.

McElwain and the Rams have seen more than their fair share of injuries this season. They’re down to their No. 3 quarterback, redshirt freshman Conner Smith, after losing the top two, Garrett Grayson (broken left collarbone) and M.J. McPeek (left shoulder), to injuries. They also had to drop to the No. 3 running back, Joe Brown, at one point after losing their top two rushers, Chris Nwoke and Donnell Alexander, to left ankle sprains.

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Conner Roggy, the No. 3 free safety, moved into the starting lineup four games ago because of injuries to Austin Gray and Kevin Pierre-Louis. Three defensive linemen also have missed starts because of injuries, including John Froland, who has been sidelined since suffering a stinger that limited the strength in one arm in the season opener.

It would be easy to blame the Rams’ inconsistency this season on the rash of injuries that have hit the team. But McElwain won’t go there. Preparing backups to come in when the players in front of them are injured, McElwain said, “is part of what we do.”

So he’s confident that sophomore Max Morgan, a starter in two games and a regular in the defensive playing rotation, will fill in fine for Skelton. Reserve linebacker Steven Michel, a redshirt freshman, got on the field for the first time in the fourth quarter against UNLV and had a quarterback sack.

And the Rams’ patchwork offensive line overcame the losses of starting guard Jordan Gragert and then Biard and still put up a season-best 231-yard rushing effort while allowing just one sack.

There might be a few empty seats on the team’s charter flight Friday, McElwain said. But those who make the trip will be ready to go.

“We just need to go prepare and put a plan together with the guys that we have and call it good,” McElwain said.